the same stars
by giselle of the fire
Summary: "in this world, they don't exist and that is the worst reality i'll ever know." /natsu•lucy


the same stars—lucy•natsu

based on moon strut's _our faded__ stars. _If you haven't read it, i suggest you do because it's so amazing and much better than this lol_._

_i don't own anything._

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_**july third X791**_

It's been three days since he was assigned to this patient by his boss. It was nothing special, really. This patient, this girl, has been lying in a coma for nearly seven years. He doesn't even know what he's doing monitoring her when it's so very obvious that she's not going to wake up. All he does and sit on a chair next to her hospital bed, holding his clipboard (doodling because there really isn't anything to report on). He looks at her occasionally and takes in the fact that this girl has been sleeping (technically) for almost seven years. She's pale—in need of some desperate sun—and her hair is dry and tangled. Her veins are so visible, it seems as if her skin is almost translucent.

**_july seventh X791_**

The patient, whose name was Lucy Heartfilia, opened her eyes today. It just started off as just a regular day for him—watching, observing, doodling—but when he heard the crumpling of bed sheets and a groan, he immediately called in the head nurse who is also his boss, Erza. She managed to stabilize her while he called her guardians.

He thought that now that she had woken up, he'd be off the hook from this job, but Erza is keeping him on a tight leash with this patient and even ordered him to write down entries describing her behavior after seven years. She thinks that Lucy may have post-traumatic stress disorder.

She says nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even to all those who came in crying, saying they were glad she was alive, but she had looked at them like she hadn't even know them. When he and Lucy were alone in her hospital room, he would be writing down his observations while Lucy looks out the window with—he notices—soulless eyes. At one point, she turns to him and he sees a familiarity in her eyes. She only says one thing.

"Where am I?"

**_july eighth X791_**

He waited a day and a half to tell her where she was and what condition she has been for the last seven years. He honestly expected her to cry. To show something, some kind of emotion in her eyes, but he received the opposite. As he finished telling her of her condition, she just stares at the starry night sky from out of the window. He can see her face form a sad smile from his peripheral vision.

"Huh, strange," is all she says before she stops talking altogether.

**_july eleventh X791_**

He and Lucy almost start a regular conversation today. She is sitting up on her bed when he walks in and drops his scaly, white scarf on the ground. She sees the scarf but not him.

"That's a nice scarf." She comments

At first, he's surprised because it's literally the third thing she's said to him in these passing days.

"Thanks. My dad gave it to me." He replies and sits on the chair while Lucy is still looking out of the window. He notices that the sky is her sanctuary.

"That's nice. I'd like to know who's been taking care of me all this time. What's your name?" She asks and he is shocked but he pushes the reaction away.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel."

Her head whips around so fast, he thought she might have broken her neck. She looks him down and up before stopping at his hair and that's when it started.

The tears had come flowing endlessly and before he knew it, she was screaming and sobbing while his fellow nurse, Gray, was pulling him out of the room while others went in and tried to contain her.

Erza thinks it's just a side effect of the PTSD but Natsu thinks otherwise.

That night, his eyes remain on the sky outside of his window and he cannot sleep. It's still so loud and clear to him. He can hear her screams and cries resonating in his head and he wonders if he's ever been this horrified in his life.

**_july eighteenth X791_**

He was informed that she had been relocated to the psychiatric ward. Erza told him that he was still in charge of her logs. They'd kept him away from her, afraid that she will have another attack if she sees him. He really doesn't know what happened.

When he entered her room, he found her staring at the setting sun.

"I'm sorry," she says. "You just look like someone i used to know."

**_july twentieth X791_**

He notices her face growing paler each day. Her dark circles are becoming more prominent.

"Get some sleep, Lucy." He tells her but she simply shakes her head.

"I'm serious. You really need sleep." He pushes but she just keeps drawing on the paper settled atop her lap.

"I don't want to." She says after a few moments of silence.

"Why is that?" He asked.

She laughs a sorrow laugh.

"I don't want to dream anymore. I hate waking up. It's the most painful part."

And he thinks that maybe, she isn't as crazy as he thought she was.

**_july twenty-first X791_**

She shows him the drawings she's been working on. One was of a group of people (who looked so much like the staff at this hospital, strangely enough) standing in front of a castle-looking building. He notices the mark on the banner and asks what it is.

She looks outside of the window, searching the moon for comfort before she answers him.

"Fairy Tail."

**_july twenty-second X791_**

He asks her what Fairy Tail is. This is the only time he sees her smile genuinely. She tells her stories with admirations and feelings that seemed to come from true memory. She tells him of her best friend—who oddly enough— has the same hair and name as him. She talks about a woman named Erza Scarlet and a man named Gray Fullbuster, along with a talking and flying blue cat named Happy. She talks about her endless adventures full of magic and friendship with them and before he knows it, her voice is cracking and she is sobbing onto her palms and he is hugging her and telling her that he's sorry for asking.

That night, he wonders how she could have dreamed of people who are real.

**_july twenty-third X791_**

She tells him of the time she and Fairy Tail were transported to an alternate universe where there was very little magic.

She called it Edolas.

"Do you think I was transported here? It's like Edolas and Earthland, only without magic." She asks.

He tells her honestly that he believes this is the only world there is.

She stays silent for the remaining time.

**_july twenty-fourth X791_**

Before he leaves his shift, he walks to Lucy's room to check up on her.

It was 12:57 in the morning so she should have been sleeping but he finds her sitting cross-legged, facing the window. She twists the object in her hand before mutter incoherently. When nothing happens, he can see her put her head down.

It wasn't until her started walking away when he heard her small sobs.

**_july twenty-sixth X791_**

She told him about her last adventure with them. How they were on Fairy Tail's sacred ground, Tenrou Island, when Grimoire Heart came and attacked them. How the Dragon King, Acnologia came and as he roared his mighty roar, Natsu from that world held Lucy's hand (everybody was holding hands but they seemed so _different_) and smiled at her before mouthing to her crying face, _Its okay_. How darkness enveloped them whole and when she open her eyes, she found herself here, at this hospital.

He'd asked her if she was happy, having woken up alive and well. She looks at him with downcast eyes and tells him that it's probably the worst thing she's ever experienced.

"In this world, they don't exist and that is the worst reality i'll ever know."

**_july twenty-eighth X791_**

She wobbles up out of bed as he writes his daily logs. He looks up at her, surprised.

"Can I hug you?" She asks. He doesn't answer for a while.

"Please. I–I just need some relief." She says, sadly.

Before he knew it, she was in his arms and he can feel everything she is feeling. The sorrow, grief, sadness, loss and even nostalgia. Instinctively, he puts his forehead against hers as his hand made its way atop her head.

"You're going to be okay, Luce."

And at that moment, time seemed to stop for both of them.

**_august second X791_**

"You're going to be able to go home soon." He tells her.

Her eyes find their way to the starry sky. She counts the stars in Aquarius with her fingers.

"I'll never be home in this world."

**_august third X791_**

He asks her how she feels about her other world. He doesn't believe it's real but just talking about it is enough for Lucy.

"Are you alright about it? You seem to not be as sad anymore."

"It's okay. I think i'm coming to terms with it." She says.

"I'm glad. You know, it's okay if you're sad about losing them and not seeing them again."

She looks at him and he sees a faint twinkle (a star, he thinks) in her eyes.

"Wherever he is, even if he's not in this world, it's okay because we see the same stars."

**_august fifth X791_**

"Hey, do you think that if I died, i would wake up in another world?" She asks him.

He tells her honestly, "no, i think you'd just die."

He doesn't think anything of that question.

**august seventh X791**

He finds that she is not in her room. He asks around if they'd seen the blonde girl and they'd told him that she was headed to the roof. He's scared because it's nighttime but something is telling him that she's there just to watch the stars.

He opens the door to the rood and see her sitting dangerously on the ledge.

He wants to say something but nothing is coming out of his mouth.

"You know, he always holds my hand as we head off into another adventure." She says.

"Lucy, what are you—"

"I wonder if i'll wake up with him dragging my hand into another one."

"Lucy!"

"It's okay." She mouths to him before falling off the edge.

Suddenly, the stars seemed to brighten, as if they had welcomed somebody home.

**_august eighth X791_**

He can't stop thinking about it. About her. He could have stopped her but he couldn't seem to move. He'd dreamt about her world. It was the only thing he had to keep her in his memory. He sees her in those dreams, happy. The happiest she's ever been and he wonders if she had woken up back there. He wonders if her Natsu had taken her hand once more and led her into another adventure.

He's sad and grieving. He had formed a bond with Lucy that nobody could have possibly understood. He thinks about her last words to him.

_It's okay_.

And after a while, he thinks it is.

Because even if she is beyond infinity, they see the same stars.


End file.
